DATE: Wednesday, July 23, 1997              TAG: 9707230590

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: 1D   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   50 lines

REAL ESTATE EXPERT TALKS TO LOCAL AGENCY

Mike Ferry's talks are gospel to real estate agents - even though he hasn't sold a house in 22 years.

One local real estate company says he is as important to home sales as Julia Child is to cooking, and Jack Nicklaus is to golfing.

Ferry is a consultant. A motivational speaker. A teacher of new ways to sell houses.

Officials at GSH Real Estate, the third-largest real estate agency in Hampton Roads, so believe in this industry trendsetter that they've hired him for three or four seminars a year and hope to convince all their agents to listen. About 110 agents, or one-third of the company, signed up for his lectures this week at the Clarion Hotel in Virginia Beach.

``I don't teach you to walk on fire, I teach you to walk on cold, hard cash,'' Ferry said in his typical blunt fashion.

Ferry's message to Realtors: You are a salesman - act like one.

His lectures set out to reteach the business to agents. Agents should stop worrying about pleasing sellers, Ferry said, and spend more time selling houses.

That manner has put off some in the industry, said Jack Pope, GSH's CEO. But, Pope said, the method has paid off for the company.

Among GSH's top 100 salespeople, productivity has increased by 30 percent since Ferry began his seminars. In the region, home sales this year are down about 10 percent but up about 5 percent for GSH.

And while Ferry said that not everyone buys his concepts, Realtor magazine's November 1996 issue called him one of the most influential people in the real estate business, based on a fax poll of its readers.

Ferry said he aims to create a home sales force so efficient ``that IBM looks to steal Realtors to sell computers.''

The problem, he said, is that some Realtors don't like being told that they are doing their jobs wrong. And they don't like being called salesmen. In fact, GSH and Prudential are the only companies to actually hire him. He normally runs a circuit of seminars across the country for agents - who work on commission and are always seeking ways to sell more.

Steve Powers, GSH's top agent on the Peninsula - with 70 home sales so far this year - went to a Ferry seminar in 1990 and has become a true believer. He eventually convinced his company to take a look at him.

``People who were following him were outselling me,'' he said. ``I had to relearn the business. I learned that service for sellers means a sold sign, not holding their hands and telling them what a nice house they have.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Mike Ferry...

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